SAUGERTIES – Police are investigating a body found in a burned out Chevrolet Suburban vehicle in the Town of Saugerties Sunday morning.

A 911 call came in minutes after midnight of the vehicle upside down in a swampy area on Glasco Turnpike near Fred Short Road. The engine compartment was on fire.

When Police Officer Jorge Castagnola arrived, no one other than the person who called 911 was around.

The officer tried to gain entry, but the doors were locked and windows were up. At that point, he smashed front and rear windows, climbed inside and reached around. He found no one and was forced out by intense heat and smoke.

Castagnola tried to get back in through a rear window hatch, but was driven back by flames and a rupturing gas tank. Fire then spread to the entire vehicle.

He tried to put out the flames with a fire extinguisher, which was insufficient. An arriving fire chief also tried an extinguisher, with no success.

By then, the Centerville Cedergrove Fire Department arrived and put out the flames.

At that point, authorities found an unidentified adult dead in the rear of the vehicle, out of reach of the front and back seats.

The Ulster County medical examiner was called in to remove the body and police continue to investigate in the incident.

The identity of the victim has not been made public yet.